The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and Catholic Religious Australia are getting behind it and have produced a range of useful resources for schools, parishes, religious communities and groups. The Society of the Sacred Heart is a long time supporter of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans and New Zealand Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans. We encourage you to join in prayer, reflection and action against trafficking in persons on 8 February.

St Josephine BakhitaReflection MaterialPrayer & LiturgyAction

St Josephine Bakhita was born in the Darfur region of Southern Sudan. She was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a young girl. She was treated brutally and resold a number of times before achieving freedom and becoming a Canossian Sister.

Find out more about St Josephine Bakhita. Read Sophie Boffa’s article at Restless Press on taking St Josephine Bakhita as her patron saint for the year, or watch this 3 minute video.

ACRATH have produced a reflection sheet especially for the World Day of Prayer, Reflection and Action Against Human Trafficking. You will find many more resources on their website.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference worked with ACRATH to produce these homily notes for Sunday 8 February, the Feast of St Josephine Bakhita. They are a useful resource not only for homilists, but for anyone speaking on this occasion.

So, what can we do? There’s a whole section of the ACRATH website with lots of action ideas and there are plenty more resources and action ideas at the Anti-Slavery Australia website.